Jack stood outside General Hammond's door, unwilling to knock. He had come back to base to report what he had found at Sam's house, which wasn't much. It was what he hadn't found that worried him. There was no sign of where she was, where she may have been going or why she had left. Unfortunately, he wasn't prepared to let the General in on their secret.
He finally gave in and knocked on the steel grey, dangerously looming door. It mocked him, called to him, laughing at his loss and fear.
"Enter!" Jack slowly opened the door, collecting his nerves as he walked into the room. He sat down in the chair facing Hammond's desk, years of Black Ops training controlling his emotions. He couldn't allow the General to have any doubts about his ability to lead the search for Major Carter.
"What did you find, Colonel?" Hammond leaned forward, his elbows resting on his desk. The disappearance of one of his finest officers was puzzling to say the least, and the actions of his own 2IC were baffling him to no end.
"That's it, Sir. We found nothing. In fact, her suitcase and her toiletries are missing." Jack tried to sound professional, but he feared it wasn't working. He knew why Sam had left. She'd left him. He knew it had nothing to do with what was bothering her, it was him.
"Colonel, I know Major Carter means a lot to you-"
"She means a lot to our team, Sir."
"I read the report on the Za'tarc incident, Jack. I know she means a lot to you, I know you won't give up, but I regret to inform you that given the current evidence I have no option but to report Major Carter AWOL, unless the Joint Chiefs are willing to accept her resignation. They have yet to finish their deliberations." Hammond fell back into his chair, concern written across his face. It was one of the hardest decisions he had ever had to make. "If you can find some evidence of foul play, we will be forced to reconsider and remove that status from her record." He paused for a moment, giving Jack a chance to catch up. "Jack I'm putting you in charge of our initial search for the Major. You've been given as much time as it takes to find her, by order of the President.
"Sir, I've known the Major a long time, I don't think she would go without being forced." Jack stood to leave, his body visibly tormented by his missing Major.
"Colonel, I have just one more question to ask before you are dismissed." Jack sat back down, knowing what was coming next. For the first time in his career, he started shaking. Hammond had never bothered delving into the private lives of his most trusted team, but the man knew everything that went on inside his base.
"Jack, I feel that I must, under the current circumstances, ask the question I've been ignoring for years."
Jack noticed the General avoiding all eye contact. Crap! He knew where this was going. "What is the status of your relationship with Major Carter?" Hammond physically winced, as he finished his question. He hadn't meant to be so blunt, but it had been necessary. 'C'mon, Jack. Don't lie to me now.'
"Sir?" That's it, just play innocent, maybe he'll think he was wrong.
"What is your relationship with Sam?"
Jack sighed, his shoulders heaving. He dropped his head, suddenly finding his feet the most interesting of objects. He knew he should be ashamed, but he just couldn't. He cared about Sam too much to be ashamed of her. In fact, he felt proud of her, their relationship. He'd retire before he let it affect her career, but it seemed she'd beaten him to it.
"Until yesterday, it was nothing. We were just friends." He looked up hoping to see Hammond looking at him. The General's head was still down. It had actually been well within the regs, even though he hadn't known it. Hammond didn't know that it happened after her resignation had already been turned in. He didn't mind the court martial he knew would come from his actions, and he was happy knowing she wouldn't be facing the same offense. "Sir, in Major Carter's defense, it wasn't until well after her resignation had reached your desk, even if you don't accept it."
"There's nothing I can do about it now." A small smile played across his lips, as sad as it may have been. "I put the responsibility on you to inform Jacob and her brother. I believe you to be the best suited for the job."
Jack nodded and stood. He didn't want to have to tell her father. He was already certain Jacob didn't like him. Hearing that his daughter had run off and gone AWOL, was not something he was likely to take sitting down. He could picture the reaction. Selmac would most likely have to take over.
He slowly made his way to the control room. Dammit! Simmons was on duty now. He knew Graham had a thing for Sam, and it had bugged him ever since Daniel had let it slip two years prior. He didn't want to give out any information with the weasel in the same room.
"Simmons, could you send out a message to Jacob and the Tok'ra? Let them know I have a message for Jacob, it's about Major Carter." Simmons sat at the controls, mouth agape. He didn't say a word, just carried out the Colonel's orders. "I'm headed for the infirmary, then I'll be in my quarters for another hour or so, after that call my cell if you hear anything."
Jack left the room and wandered the halls for a moment before heading to see Janet. There was always a slight possibility she knew something about what had happened. They were best friends after all. Maybe Sam had said something to Janet in conversation. The doctor had always been good being able to tell when something wasn't quite kosher with the SGC's leading team.
He knocked on Janet's office door and for once he waited for her to allow him entrance.
"Colonel O'Neill?" To say she was surprised was less than and understatement. Usually, he would just burst right in and demand whatever it was he was looking for or waiting for. He stood in front of her, rocking from the balls to the heels of his feet. "What can I do for you today?"
He stepped into the room and immediately took the first available seat he saw. He didn't say anything at first. He wasn't sure what to say. Janet was Sam's best friend, as one of the few women on the base.
"Have you noticed anything odd about Sa… Major Carter lately?" He was fidgeting as usual, but it was more nervous than anything she had ever seen before. The team wasn't due for physicals just yet, and no tests had been ordered.
"Ummm, no, Sir. Is there something wrong?" Janet sat at her desk across from Jack.
"She's gone AWOL, Doc. No one knows where she is. She turned in her resignation, but left before she could be informed whether it was accepted or not." Jack was now allowing his concern show. He knew Janet already knew how they felt about each other and opening up to her was the only way he could figure he'd get her help.
"Why don't you start from the beginning, Jack. You obviously know more than what you just told me." Janet suddenly became serious.
Jack sighed and decided he'd better tell her everything. "Yesterday morning, I got up to get the paper and found her standing outside my house in the pouring rain. She looked like she'd been there for hours, just crying. I started the shower for her and then helped her into bed. I came here to grab some paperwork and let the General know that Sam wasn't going to be in. Unfortunately, it took me almost 5 hours to get home so I didn't arrive until 1000. I found her in the shower again. This time when I pulled her out she seemed to have awaken from her dazed state of earlier that morning. She kissed me and we sort of carried it on from there. We fell asleep at about 1200. I awoke to my front door slamming at 1630. I ran after her but she was already flying down my street. That was the last anybody's seen of her."
Not one for talking, his little explanation seemed to have exhausted him. "She must have felt ashamed of what we did, but I don't understand her running away like that. Ignoring me today maybe, but not disappearing." He was on the verge of tears. Not actually crying, just something had flown into his eye while he'd been talking. "Why would she just take off like that. She knows I wouldn't let her career suffer for what we did. I... You know how I feel about her. I even made sure she wanted it, I would never, EVER force anything that special upon her."
"Jack, this is important. Can you remember everything that happened yesterday between you and Sam?" Janet asked, speaking up finally. She had a clue as to why Sam may have gotten nervous, but not as to why she may have ran. After all, she could have come to see her and taken care of it right away.
"Oh yeah, every last detail." A sad grin crept across the Colonel's lips. Of course he could remember everything, it had been so special between them. He'd been able to show her how he felt, even if he still had trouble voicing his feelings.
"Okay, vital piece of information, did you use protection?" The grin dropped from Jack's face as he leaned forward.
"No." His answer was quiet and sheepish, like a high school freshman just caught with his first girlfriend. "But after that incident with Lt. Gray on P0S-whatever, all female officers have to get that shot thing."
"Dammit, Colonel! Do you not get the memos, or do you just not bother to read them?" Janet slammed the file she'd been holding down on the desk. Jack jumped. "When we tried to give Sam the shot, she ended up in the infirmary for two days, we had to cancel your mission, remember?" She was frustrated with Jack, with Sam, and just with everybody in general.
"I honestly think I don't get these memos." Jack's attempt at humor earned him a glare from the good doctor.
"Jack, be serious here." Janet rolled her chair over to her filing cabinet. She never bothered putting the charts in alphabetical order anymore. For convenience, they were in order by size. She knew her patients by how big their chart was. She was looking for the third largest, after Daniel and Jack of course.
She found what she was looking for and opened it up on her desk. Jack was surprised that she opened it to the back cover of the folder instead of looking at the chart directly. There was a print out calendar stapled there.
"Jack, I don't think you're going to like this." She turned the chart around so Jack could read whatever she had found there. This was making him nervous. Was his Sam sick? He leaned forward to get a closer look.
"The dates marked in red are when I usually ask the General to allow you on light recon missions, nothing too serious. Sometimes I even ask him to send you somewhere we've already been, to check up on the natives and such. Theses dates I have circled in black-"
"Are right in-between the clumps of red." Jack leaned back and sighed. He was doing a lot of that today, he noticed.
"Do you get what I'm saying here?" Janet asked him quietly.
He nodded. "And yesterday is circled in black."
"Now, Jack, I think that's enough to scare her, but she wouldn't have run. I believe she would have come to see me first, if that's what was really wrong." Jack could tell Janet was starting to worry about her best friend. Sam could get scared, she did often, but she never let anyone know, and she certainly never ran. "We're not even sure it's a possibility, after what happened with Jolinar. The naquada in her blood could make it very difficult, if not impossible, but we've been keeping track of these things just in case. And after the Thera thing-"
"Colonel O'Neill to the Gateroom. Colonel O'Neill, to the Gateroom."
"That'll be Jacob. I'd better go." Jack pushed his chair back and stood, shoving his hands deep in his pockets.
"Jack, if I can be of anymore assistance, please let me know," Janet said, rising as he left.
"Will do." And with that Colonel Jack O'Neill left to face his biggest fear.
A/N: Okay, so I personally don't like the way this chapter came out, but everytime I tried to rewrite it, I just couldn't come up with how i wanted it to sound. Well, let me know what you think, thanks again!